A few things to consider this week as the News Journal reports that our state GDP isn’t matching the national average:

Delaware is still in a state of recovery from losing 1500 manufacturing jobs between Chrysler and GM leaving the state, and it’s difficult to find jobs paying between $70-100K a year, but there are signs we are slowly making those numbers up

Incyte is looking to add 400 jobs in the near term, that SevOne is also expanding, and that other nationally known entities are looking to expand here (more on that to come as details are available to be released)

Wilmington is looking to create a local stock exchange that will add a number of high paying jobs locally

Middletown approved the plans for a data center to be built

Those items, taken collectively point to some positive economic development in the state. While we are certainly still behind where we once were, we need to make sure we take the time to appreciate the gains we are making, and continue to find new and innovative solutions to bringing quality jobs into Delaware.The growth of Delaware’s gross domestic product has lagged behind the rest of the country, the federal government claims. However, some Delaware officials dispute the charge noting that employment is up in the First State.

Delaware’s GDP grew at a rate of 1.2 percent in 2014, a full point behind the national economy which improved at a rate of 2.2 percent, according to recently released statistics by the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Activity. In addition, Delaware trailed its Mid-Atlantic neighbors, which reported a 1.7 percent growth last year.